, IncGold Prices Stabilize After Two-Month Low; Industrial Precious Metals Show Gains
July 20, 2010 - Gold for August delivery rose $9.60, or 0.8%, to $1,191.50 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. Yesterday’s market close saw gold prices just below $1,182 an ounce, its lowest price since May 21.
While long-term investor interest in gold is predicted to be stable, Monday’s equity market rally and the strengthened U.S. dollar have resulted in a slowing demand for gold and other precious metals. Gold prices are now down 6% from May’s record highs—largely as a result of indicators that Europe is managing the debt crisis that dominated headlines in May and early June. Typically, investors’ appetite for precious metals—refuge assets—grows in proportion to signs of economic instability and currency exchange volatility.
The broad liquidation pressures confronting the stock and commodity markets are affecting gold prices as well. This morning’s discouraging housing market statistics reported housing starts having declined 5% to an eight-month low. Stock futures are indicating a lower Wednesday open on Wall Street.
Silver, with more industrial uses than gold, hovered at $17.71 an ounce today—up eleven cents from yesterday’s close. Platinum traded at $1,508 an ounce—down $5 from small gains in a late-day Monday rally.
Platinum and palladium futures were both up today as investors expressed confidence that demand for the metals (used in automobile catalytic converters) would increase. Nymex October platinum closed at $1,518.70 an ounce, up $15.10. September palladium rose $13.50, or 3.2%, to $440.40 an ounce.
Stewart Lawson
Senior Staff Writer - GoldPrice.net
